GIFT – Girls Informed For Tomorrow

 

Many of our babies come to Neema Village because their moms have died in childbirth.  In our local research in remote Maasai villages one in nine women will die during childbirth.  We know this because we have their babies at Neema!  The death rate for women during childbirth in Africa is 20 times higher than in developed countries and the chances of a baby surviving without a mother to the age of 5 years are very slim.  Many of these moms are between the ages of 13 to 15.

There are many reasons for this high death rate; lack of access to good medical care, lack of good nutrition, cultural practices such as FGM (female genital mutilation) and eating grass the third trimester so they have small babies but the saddest reason is girls who are ages 12 to 15 having babies when their hips are not yet wide enough to give birth.

Out of the almost 450 babies who have come to Neema Village over the years about half of them came because of the death of their Maasai mothers.

To solve this problem we knew we had to reach the young girls out in the Maasai villages.  GIFT, Girls Informed For Tomorrow, is a day long seminar held in the Maasai villages using a Days For Girls format. The girls are taught about how babies are made, how their bodies function, what God actually intended for women and why so many young girls die in childbirth.   They are encouraged to wait until they are older to marry and have babies and they are encouraged to stay in school and refuse FGM.

Neema Village does four GIFT programs a year with two to three hundred girls coming for the day.  The program costs about $4,000 USD.  The girls receive gifts, lunch and colorful bags of washable feminine products so they can stay in school during their periods.  Our four Tanzanian teachers, Anna, Angel, Priscilla and Heavenlight are certified to teach the course.  It is quite a day of music and laughter and one that we pray is making a huge difference in the lives of these young women.

Thank You to the Montana women who funded this event!

Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.
David Platt